25.4.15

An older, tired-looking dog wandered into her yard; she could tell from his
collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care
of.

He calmly came over to her, she gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed her into her house, slowly walked down the hall, curled
up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and she let him out.

The
next day he was back, greeted her in her yard, walked inside and resumed
his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued
off and on for several weeks.

Curious she pinned a note to his
collar: ‘I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet
dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog
comes to my house for a nap.’

The next day he arrived for his
nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: ‘He lives in a home
with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 he’s trying to catch up on his
sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?’

24.4.15

Facebook is
tinkering around with its News Feed algorithm, and rarely is that a good sign
for Facebook Pages and organic reach. I’m afraid this announcement doesn’t
sound particularly great for them either.

There are
three updates. We’ll get right to the one that will have Page owners worried
first.

With this
particular update, Facebook is basically going to show some people more content
from their friends and less from Pages. The good news is that this won’t be the
case for all users. Facebook is taking into account the behavior of each user,
and deciding which way to turn the dial based on that. If John Doe interacts
with friends’ content much more than Page content, he’s going to get more
friend content and less Page content. If Jane Doe interacts more with Pages and
less with friends, she’ll continue to get roughly the same amount of Page
content.

As Facebook explains, the “update tries to ensure that content posted
directly by the friends you care about, such as photos, videos, status updates
or links, will be higher up in News Feed so you are less likely to miss it. If
you like to read news or interact with posts from pages you care about, you
will still see that content in News Feed. This update tries to make the balance
of content the right one for each individual person.”

“The goal of News Feed is to show you the content that matters to you,” it
says. “This means we need to give you the right mix of updates from friends and
public figures, publishers, businesses and local organizations you are
connected to. This balance is different for everyone depending on what people
are most interested in learning about every day. As more people and pages are
sharing more content, we need to keep improving News Feed to get this balance
right.”

One of the other updates will make it so that people who don’t have a lot of
content available to see may start seeing multiple posts from the same source
in a row. The third one demotes posts that show when a friend has liked or
commented on someone else’s post.

Facebook says the
impact of the changes on Pages’ distribution will vary “considerably” depending
on any given Page’s audience.

“In some cases, post reach and referral traffic could potentially decline,” It
says. “Overall, pages should continue to post things that people find
meaningful.”

It also points to a document for best practices for driving referral traffic.
It’s definitely a good time to take a closer look at that.

First off,
“post frequently” to your Facebook Page. A while back, we looked at research
Facebook shared that found that publishers increasing post volume by an average
of 45% over a week resulted in a 76% increase in outbound clicks, 10% increase
in likes per post, and 47% increase in fans. Facebook points to this research
in its document.

Facebook also considers posting a variety of content to be an important way to
drive referrals. This means using different formats including links, photos,
videos, and other content. It says to use text prompts and calls-to-action in
your posts to inspire engagement.

As you may know, video has absolutely exploded on Facebook over the past year.
We’re just talking about native Facebook video though. Facebook says to upload
videos to Facebook with a call to action to get Facebook users to go to your
site.

Another
idea is to create content with social context in mind. Again, that’s straight
from Facebook.

“What would make someone more likely to share your content? Think about identity
and emotion — key drivers of sharing — when writing headlines and choosing
images,” it says.

You should be tagging other pages in your Facebook posts when applicable. this
makes your posts eligible to appear in the News Feed of people who are fans of
those pages, which Facebook explicitly says can potentially increase your
distribution.

Facebook lists hosting a Q&A on your page as a best practice. While this
can certainly be great for engagement and possibly News Feed reach, I’m not
sure it will directly be great for referrals, but either way, it can’t hurt.

Another interesting best practice Facebook suggests is to “build around your
stars” referring to the most well-known people associated with your brand.

It recommends using the Trending section to find popular topics and post about
them.

It says to
embed Facebook or Instagram posts in your website, which seems better for
driving referrals to Facebook, but whatever.

It says to add the like and share buttons to your site and mobile apps
(obviously), to add Open Graph and App links tags, and finally, to add Facebook
Comments to your site.

Last month, Facebook launched a new version of its Comments plugin, which comes
with some new benefits.

As far as the News Feed update goes, we’ll see if Pages notice a dramatic
effect from the changes. Either way, it’s not what a lot of businesses want to
hear right while they’re already dealing with a major Google algorithm update.

23.4.15

22.4.15

It all
began when, in 1989, an American truck driver dumped me near the Mexican
border.

And there I
was, trying to figure out which way the wind blew. I had about a thousand
dollars in cash, my rucksack, a German army surplus sleeping bag, and one pair
of shoes. But they were good.

And I
decided to go and have a look - the rest is history.

The first
Mexican I met was a surly Mexican border guard. I had gotten off the train to
stretch my legs, and he barked at me: "What's your profession?"

I was an
unskilled laborer at the time, but I thought that if I tell him that, he might
take me for an illegal immigrant who wanted to work the fields. So I told him I
was a baker.

Wind
forward two years.

By now I
speak Spanish and have worked for several language schools giving German and
English classes in Mexico-City. And I have decided to go 'big-time', to set up
my own school.

I went to a
tailor and had myself a couple of suits made - and my shoes were always
polished. The day my company was incorporated somebody asked my by coincidence
what I was doing. I told him that I was the General Director of a language
school. He didn't need to know that I was the only director, the
accountant, message boy and the sole teacher. Why, in my head I had it all
figured out!

I started
to visit the human resources departments of Mexican and multinational
companies, presenting our program for teaching their staff that one
indispensable skill - that second language. Since I didn't have any money, I
traveled Mexico-City in its public transport system, squeezing myself into
the subway and doubling myself up so that I could fit into their mini-buses.

After
working the streets for about a year, and nothing really happening (yes, a
couple of companies hired us, but the volume was really nothing to write home
about) I was getting exhausted. However, I was undaunted.

It was a
Friday afternoon, around 6:00, and I was actually on my way home. I was perched
with other commuters into a small public transport vehicle, and it drove past
an insurance company.

I said to
myself "One more effort for today", and got off. I didn't know at the
time that this particular insurance company had recently been bought by the
American company Aetna.

I paid a
visit to the human resources department and left my business card.

To make a
long story short, they hired us to teach all their staff, and I had to
start hiring teachers immediately.

What's
more, the wife of the person in charge of training was in charge of training department in
a major Mexican bank. I paid her a visit, too.

Within a
couple of month my school exploded. I had to constantly hire and train new language
teachers and had by then a full-time administrative staff. And I had my own car.

21.4.15

But it was
a long and hard way before I finally got there. I invested literally years in
the project, and in the meantime I didn't have anything to show for it. Yes,
maybe a client here, a client there, but nothing to write home about.

And it was
tough. I was the only one who believed in me and my dreams, but sometimes I
just began to wonder......... Had I lost my mind?

At other
times it was brute stubbornness that kept me going. At those times I even
forgot my goals, I just gritted my teeth and did my thing.

In 2013 I
was just about to throw in the towel. I desperately talked to one of my sons
about persistence, while I was at the point of losing it. I remember telling him that
there was a very fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an
idiot........ (I remember him laughing his
head off at this).

But I got
there, right after I decided to give it just another couple of month.

So my advice
to you is a quote by Zara Lockwood: When you feel like giving up, remember why
you held on for so long in the first place.

19.4.15

The universe we live in has certain fixed values, as well called the Planck constants. Without those seven constants life on our planet, and anywhere else in the universe, would be impossible.

In other words, if only one of those constants would be only slightly different, I wouldn't be sitting here at my computer writing this blog post. In fact, I wouldn't exist, and neither would you. Earth would probably be just a barren planet, with no flora and fauna at all.

So logical thinking would reason that there must be a design behind it all. The probability of these constants coming into effect exactly as they are by chance is so minute that it can be practically ignored.

That was a tough nut for science to crack. The constants can be proven, but scientists couldn't just live with the idea of a creator/designer behind it all - it's just not scientific.

So they racked their brains, did a couple of brainstorms, wrote papers, discussed the issue. There had to be a way out of it, there had to be an explanation how this universe came to pass without God being behind it.

And bingo - born was the new theory of parallel universes. Because if you accept the idea that there are simultaneously millions of universes, what's happening then in our universe is simply a random configuration of values.

18.4.15

To listen to another person is a skill that, in my
humble opinion, should be taught at school, beginning right at primary
school level.

It’s such an essential exercise. Just imagine for a
second the world’s politicians ‘really’ listening to each other. That
would imply the effort of actually trying to understand what the other
one says. And that not only on an intellectual level, but on an
emotional level as well.

It’s an inherently risky business, because the better
I understand my ‘opponent’, the greater the risk that I actually
would have to agree with him/her, at least partially.

Imagine the prime ministers of India and Pakistan
doing just that. Or, in the United States, a Democrat and a member of
the Tea-Party movement.

Imagine for a second that both sides would have to
repeat, in their own words, what their ‘opponent’ said. And not only
that, but they would have to explain it even better than the ‘other’ was
able to express it.

17.4.15

Negativity can be very persuasive - and it doesn't just show itself in
Doomsday Theories. We find it in our daily lives, on the one hand by
just watching TV (and news in particular), and, on the other and more
importantly, through pessimistic people that we have to put up with at
our jobs and in our families.

And make no mistake, it can be contagious. Misery is easy, it's
happiness you have to work at. The way towards a pessimistic outlook on
life is always the one with the least resistance.

It is emotionally challenging to be around a negative person , somebody
whose glass is always half-empty, a person that doesn't accept that
there are shades between black and white. So protect yourself.

There are limits on the protection you can give yourself in your family
and in your workplace. There are people you just have to spend time
with, like it or not.

Not so with your friends, so choose them wisely. Other people will
always rub off on your personality, the kind of person you are. So
surround yourself with positive people.

Befriend people who are optimistic, who view life more as a series of
challenges to be overcome and to grow with, instead of those who only
see problems ahead.

Look for those with a sense of humor, somebody you can have a good laugh
with. Laughter is, after all, the last defense against the universe.

Find those who accept that life is difficult, but who know that life is
MEANT to be difficult. They are those who overcome obstacles, instead of
just moaning that there is yet another one.

16.4.15

“The measure of success is not whether you have a
tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had
last year.”

I don’t know who said that originally, but it does
sound a chord, doesn’t it? I mean, the way I see it life is meant to be
difficult, is meant to be a series of problems which have to be
solved.

Take a problem, any problem. We only recognize it as a
problem because it’s just a touch outside the field of our capacity
to solve it. In order to solve the situation, we have to expand. In
other words, we have to learn and grow, acquire new skills in order to
solve that particular problem.

Once we have acquired those skills, we solve the
problem. And henceforth, when a similar situation arises, we don’t
define it as a problem, don’t ‘see’ it as a problem anymore, since we
have the skill set to work through the situation and go on with our
lives.

But then a funny thing happens. A new problem arises, just a touch outside our field of our capacity to solve it and we ………

I guess you get the picture.

I’m convinced that the powers that be never present us with a problem which we are not, at least potentially, able to solve.

15.4.15

A lot has been said and written about the fact that we hardly ever live
in the present - in fact, whole religions have been based on in. Most of
us tend to either regret things from the past, or worry about the
future. Now if that sounds too negative to you, let's reword it: Most of
us either indulge in happy memories or are eagerly anticipating the
future.

Take your pick. Either way, it's the present moment that mostly eludes
us, and I for one am at a stage in my life where I find the situation
outright absurd. Why does the future take up so much of my time and
(mental) energy, when I know by now through experience that most
of my projections will never come true? Mark Twain once said that he had
been through some terrible things in his life, some of which actually
happened!

And the whole subject seems to be interwoven with questions of
spirituality - live the 'here and now', that's all there is to it.
That's how you are going to experience God.......

Lately I`ve come to understand something fundamental about the whole
subject. It's all connected with a simple trick evolution played on the
human race in order for it to survive.

See, cavemen started to remember unpleasant events. They remembered
another member of their tribe who went into certain parts of the woods,
and never came back since the wolves feasted on him. They remembered
their sister-in-law who suddenly fell ill and died. She had eaten that
funny looking meat.

And they went beyond what animals did. They started to think about how
to get to the wolves first, before they got to them. They started to
scheme, to imagine, to project the future. And that's how homo sapiens
survived.

So there is a pretty straightforward, natural reason, based on
evolution, why we are how we are, why we keep missing that precious
'now', why Nirvana keeps eluding us.

And nature doesn't care whether we are happy. For nature, as long as the human race persists, it has done its job.

14.4.15

We’re all sinners, in my humble opinion. I don’t mean
it necessarily in a religious way. I believe that my great hero, the
carpenter from Palestine, just summed up what humanity was by then
ready to hear (or not). It’s not always easy to hear the truth.

That’s why they killed Him, I guess.

To sin is not exclusively to outright lie, steal or seduce your neighbour's spouse. Those sins are easy to recognize.

More than anything it means to rarely hit the mark,
to give our best only on a limited number of occasions, knowing that
with just a little more effort we could do better.

And we know it, at least if we are willing to listen to that nagging voice inside us.

That implies that we need correction, and that correction comes usually in the form of criticism by our fellow men or women.

Nothing new there, that’s how the ball rolls.

However, it’s not so much the criticism that stings. I believe that all
of us deep inside know that we are imperfect, and that criticism is
usually justified.

However, there are people who do it with brutal honesty. My
hallucination is that they get more a kick out of the ‘brutal’ than the
‘honesty’.

People may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

13.4.15

Science has found out that we are physically addicted to our emotions.
This is one of the main reasons we always seem to be in the same
emotional states.

People have a lot of different temperaments. There is this lady who is
always moody, brooding about this, that and the other. You meet this
gentleman who always greets you with a smile. There is this aggressive
kid on the block, and you fear his violence. There is this boss of
yours, and you just can’t please him, no matter how hard you try.

Most people tend to behave in a predictable pattern. It is said that
you’re born with your temperament, and that your character is formed
over the years. And once character has been formed most people don’t
change that much. They basically do the same, say the same, and react in
the same manner to a given circumstance. And that’s just fine by us,
since we like to know who we are dealing with. We don’t like
surprises.

The same applies to us. We don’t change that much, the way we act is
pretty predictable to those around us. That’s how we get on with the
world and the people in it.

The way we act, the things we do are always determined not by what we
think, but by what we feel. No matter from which angle you look at it,
the most basic motivating factor for us when deciding to embark on a
course of action (or not) is the question on how that will make us feel.
Is it going to give us pleasure or is it going to cause us pain. We
like to think of us as rational human beings, but most of our so-called
rational actions are based on our emotions, whether that happens
consciously or unconsciously.

We are not so much thinking creatures but feeling creatures. It’s our
emotions that tell us whether we are happy or sad, feel successful or a
total failure. And we become, literally and physically, addicted to
the emotions we feel most often.

There are parts in our brain that discharge so-called peptides into our
bloodstream. These are miniscule chemicals that make us feel the way
we feel. There is a peptide for anger, a peptide for love, one for
frustration, another one for feeling successful, sad, dejected, on top
of the world- you name any emotion, and soon there will even be a name
for the specific peptide that runs through your body when we feel it.

And here comes the really dramatic part. Whatever peptide is discharged
into our bloodstream, if it is discharged on a continuous, habitual
basis, your body, and with it you, will become physically addicted to
it.

So somebody who for years has been feeling irritated about everything,
even a butterfly flying accidentally into his house, is addicted to the
specific peptide that, on a bio-chemical level, causes him to feel
that irritation. What happens if this person just can’t find a reason
for feeling irritated? There are two ways. One is remembering and
focusing on situations in the past that gave him/her cause for
irritation. By just conjuring up these images in his/her imagination
he/she sends a signal to his brain that it’s time for his fix.

Or she might physically move around the house until he stumbles over a
pair of shoes his daughter left standing in the hallway – and that’s
enough to fire him up.

A ‘Why does this always happen to me?’ person will unconsciously bump
into a waiter in a restaurant so that he spills the drink on her dress.

In that sense, we are all junkies.

And it’s one of the main reasons why we are so predictable. Since we are
always trying to feel in a way that pleases our body cells by
administering the right peptides to them, we usually act in a manner
that ensures those provisions.

12.4.15

Let me teach you
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But not only
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I'm glad to say
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because I approached the growing of my Twitter account, after some initial
bewilderment, as a skill that can be learned.

I had to do it
by trial and error, and there were a lot of errors, believe me! But now I am in
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What I will
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Twitter is the perfect tool for meeting new
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It's practically the
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With some effort
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